Colts’ ETA delays the hype

It’s the great arrival controversy. The Bears were to get in at 2 p.m. MST today. The Colts weren’t to arrive until Monday night. Check back on Super Bowl Sunday night to see whether one team benefited from their particular arrival times, but it seems to me the NFL’s worst nightmare would be if the Colts win convincingly.

This would lead to the theory that less time in the Super Bowl city means less distraction and leads to better performance. That would cause all future Super Bowl teams to want to wait until Monday and give the media one less day to hype the Super Bowl.
Would that be all bad? To the NFL it would. For now, the NFL pooh-bahs are allowing the Colts’ tardy arrival. But if Indy trounces Chicago, I’m betting there will be a new mandate stating future Super Bowl contestants must arrive by the Sunday prior to the big game.

From the NFL’s perspective, more hype means more interest, which means more revenue, which means … let’s stop right there at more revenue.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.